Description
The Bards of Wyrlde have a peculiar difference from many others: the form of their art. For Bards that adventure, those Art forms possible are Dance, Music, Song, and Oration. There are bards in the world who also do Painting, Sculpture, and Writing, but they tend extraordinarily strongly to be homebodies, and their arts are not as nimble in fighting situations.
Traditional Bards employ Song, and some combine Song and Music or Song and Oration. This is not particularly critical, but Dance Bards are about movement as expression, as inspiration, and it is important that one realize that any given bard can employ Dance as well as the others.
It is in Durango that Bards are the most famous and potent, and it is there that the vast Bard College rests, after having been driven out of Prussia following an untoward incident.
Bards follow standard development rules and systems, contained in the PHB and XGE.
Creating a Bard
Bards thrive on stories, whether those stories are true or not. Your character’s background and motivations are not as important as the stories that he or she tells about them. Perhaps you had a secure and mundane childhood. There’s no good story to be told about that, so you might paint yourself as an orphan raised by a hag in a dismal swamp. Or your childhood might be worthy of a story. Some bards acquire their magical music through extraordinary means, including the inspiration of fey or other supernatural creatures.
Did you serve an apprenticeship, studying under a master, following the more experienced bard until you were ready to strike out on your own? Or did you attend a college where you studied bardic lore and practiced your musical magic? Perhaps you were a young runaway or orphan, befriended by a wandering bard who became your mentor. Or you might have been a spoiled noble child tutored by a master. Perhaps you stumbled into the clutches of a hag, making a bargain for a musical gift in addition to your life and freedom, but at what cost?
Starting Age
| Race | Starting Age | Race | Starting Age |
| Dwarf | Gnome | ||
| Elf | Half-Elf | ||
| Human | Half-Orc |
Defining Works (XGE)
Bards typically have a defining work.
Development of this can be assisted by using the tables provided at the end of this book.
Instrument (XGE)
Bards commonly have some sort of instrument – it might be a mask, or a ribbon baton, but is usually a musical instrument that they play.
Selection of this can be assisted by using the tables provided at the end of this book.
Embarrassments (XGE)
There is always that one time, and typically a Bard will have more than one. No one can get by without a flop or three. For every five levels, a bard will have at least one embarrassment.
Development of this can be assisted by using the tables provided at the end of this book.
Muse (XGE)
On Wyrlde, Bards typically have a muse. There are several potential muses given at the end of this work, but a further word on muses is necessary.
It is said that every single Bard has a Muse in the world, that haunts them, that is always watching, always giving them a bit of mystery or guidance or perhaps just toying with them. Muses are not fickle, but they are jealous, and there is little else that can have a more lasting effect on a Bard than the loss of their muse, or – worse – a fight with one.
Legends, myths, even the very stories of bards themselves, shared among only them, tell of what happens when a Bard meets her muse. Entire affairs have been performed about these. Which all leads to a certain point to be aware of: muses are real.
And they are out there.
Proficiencies Options
Weapons: Firearms, Explosives, Glaive
Skills: Firearms, Explosives
Colleges
The Bards of Wyrlde come from various Colleges. The Colleges available here are shown below, with a few notes.
Not every college is available everywhere. As noted previously, Prussia has outlawed Bards. They don’t feel bad about it because they have the printing press and town criers, but it is not a place where they are welcome, and there are no Colleges there.
Bard Colleges in Wylrde are actual schools, physical locations. The destruction of one often means it will need to be rebuilt, but doing so takes around a year, during which those in that College cannot advance. As the Colleges are scattered, not all of them can be found among the same ethnicities.
| College | Locations | Sourcebook |
| College of Lore | Any (even Prussia) | PHB |
| College of Valor | Durango, Thule, Dorado, Islandia | PHB |
| College of Glamour | Aztlan, Durango, Lemuria, Shangrila | XGE |
| College of Swords | Durango, Thule | XGE |
| College of Whispers | Durango, Shangrila | XGE |
College of Glamour
The College of Glamour as described in the XGE makes notes of the Feywild. On Wyrlde, however, the college is taught not by the Fey, but by the priests of the Shadow God Kirin, who is the patron deity of all bards, kind of by default. The college is otherwise the same.
